[3] Dhaun Castle

Description

One of the most outstanding cultural monuments in the Nahe and Hunsrück region is the castle in the hamlet of Dhaun, which is visible from a great distance. Unlike almost any of the other numerous castles in the Nahe region, this castle has retained its historic appearance.

The first documented mention of the castle dates from 1215 as ‘castrum de Dune’, when Count Konrad II of Wild received the castle as a fief from the Imperial Abbey of St Maximin in Trier. It served as the administrative centre of the Dhaun district for the surrounding villages of Simmern unter Dhaun (now Simmertal), Hochstetten, Hochstädten, St. Johannisberg and for the Kirn administrative area.

Konrad II was also the owner of Kyrburg in Kirn and Schmidtburg, the oldest castle in the Hunsrück, built in 926.

Its strategically favourable location at the entrance to the Kellenbach Valley made Dhaun an important stronghold within the network of castles in the Kirn region. In the event of an emergency, access to the Hunsrück could be completely blocked. Consequently, there were numerous battles for supremacy in this area, particularly with the Archbishops of Trier.

When Johann I died childless, the line of the Wildgrafen came to an end. With his nephew, Count Johann II of the Rhine, who inherited the Dhaun estate, the era of the Wild and Rhine Counts began around 1350.

Through a shrewd policy of marriage alliances, the Counts of Dhaun managed to expand their holdings from generation to generation. They acquired estates in the Vosges, Lorraine and Brabant.

The conversion into a purely residential palace complex took place in the 16th century, after its use as a military fortification had already been abandoned. A new palace building is mentioned in 1587, and in 1661 the consecration of a new chapel, St George’s Chapel. During the reign of Countess Luise and her husband Karl (1675–1733), work began in 1729 to transform the palace into a Baroque palace and to lay out a large park in the French style. In 1750, the Dhaun branch of the Counts of Wild and the Rhine died out.

Dhaun Castle lost its functional significance as a seat of the nobility and an administrative centre in 1794, when French Revolutionary troops occupied and plundered the castle.

In 1804, Baron van Recum purchased the estate – now considered national property – at auction and had the buildings demolished. The count’s brewery was given as a gift to the municipality of Dhaun, which later established a church on the site – today’s Evangelical Church in Dhaun.

In 1822, the retired teacher Schmidt acquired the southern part of the castle ruins, whilst the northern part, comprising the outbuildings, went to the Dhaun innkeeper Christoph Eppelsheimer. In the years that followed, the ruins continued to be used as a quarry.

The destruction came to an end in 1850 when Dr Warendorf, a doctor from Trier, purchased the ruins and began carrying out urgently needed restoration work, mainly on the lower gate and the entrance area. In 1886, the Simon family, industrialists from Kirn, became the new owners of the castle. They continued the renovation and restoration work begun under Dr Warendorf, had the so-called ‘Knights’ Hall building’ rebuilt, amongst other things, and also acquired the statue of Prometheus now standing on the rotunda of the eastern bastion, created in Rome in 1888 by the eminent Bad Kreuznach sculptor Robert Cauer the Elder.

Since 1954, the ‘Zweckverband Schloss Dhaun’ – a special-purpose association comprising the district of Bad Kreuznach, the town of Kirn and the municipality of Kirn-Land – has been the owner of the castle. Its remit has been, and remains, to make the grounds accessible to the public, to maintain them in a fitting condition, and to make the buildings available for cultural, youth-related and other charitable purposes.

The ruins of the Baroque palace, dating from 1729, were only rebuilt in two phases, in 1970–71 and 1977–78. The former guardhouse or gatehouse was converted into a youth centre in 1982.

Since 2021, the internationally renowned lighting specialist Rüdiger Lanz has been the new tenant of the complex; with his plans to redesign the park and expand the accommodation and seminar facilities, he will ensure that the palace ‘shines in a new light’ in future.